1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting and dispensing articles such as bags, and more particularly plastic "T-shirt" type bags having perforations allowing the bags to be easily removed from the apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a plurality of article supporting and dispensing devices that can be stacked for holding and dispensing different sizes of articles such as bags, and preferably, a plurality of bag dispensers being stackable and adjustable for holding and dispensing a plurality of different size bags.
2. Description of the Related Art
Retail establishments typically use a plurality of different size bags for packaging their products sold to consumers. The bags are usually stored on a shelf or other support member provided for all sizes and shapes of bags. If different size bags are placed directly on top of each other it is difficult to retrieve a single bag of a specific shape, length and width in a single motion.
If the different size bags are each stored in separate shelves or on separate support members, the number of shelves and support members is relatively large. Therefore, the space occupied by such a relatively large number of shelves and support members is substantial and wastes valuable point of sale display space.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,728 and 5,332,097 to Wile teach a plurality of the same size bags being held on a hook located inside of a paperboard cartridge. The bags are of the "T-shirt" type having perforations in the lip so the bags can be torn off of the hook. However, the bag holding device of Wile is not adjustable and cannot hold a plurality of different size bags in such a manner that each of the groups of different size bags are readily accessible. Therefore, a separate paperboard cartridge and hook assembly must be provided for each size bag resulting in inefficient use of space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,832 to Daniels teaches a rack for dispensing plastic bags. Various size bags are draped over a rod and held on stationary wire loop hooks. Each of the various size bags are disposed one on top of each other to form a stack of bags such that the body portions of the bags connected to the bag handles form a stack on the rod. Because of this arrangement, Daniels must provide lubricous surfaces on each of the bags so that the bags located in the stack do not adhere to an adjacent bag when being removed from the rod. In addition, after the bags are draped over the rod, the closure portions of each of the different size bags must be attached to a specific one of the hook loops which makes the mounting of the bags in the bag holder difficult. Furthermore, the top bags must be removed in order to replace the bottom bags.
Million, U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,339 and Dinges, U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,166, merely teach wickets for holding plastic bags having a pair of holes near the handles. With the device of Dinges, two different size bags are placed under the same hooks. Because the two different size bags are stacked on top of each other in Dinges, a large bag being removed has a tendency to adhere to an adjacent smaller bag and inadvertently remove several of the adjacent smaller bags. This effectively limits the number of different size bags to be held by the Dinges device. Furthermore, the top bags must be removed in order to replace the bottom bags. In addition, the wickets in both the Million and Dinges devices must be removed from a support base to mount additional bags on the wickets.
Ondrasik, U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,885 discloses stackable wire trays for stacking and nesting to form a plurality of baskets for holding documents, papers, letters, etc. However, the hooks of Ondrasik are not adjustable or removable. Therefore, the hook positions are set and cannot be changed to accommodate different size articles to be supported thereon.